Emily Warren (courtesan)
Emily Warren | |
---|---|
Nationality | British |
Other names | Emily Pott Emily Bertie Emily Coventry |
Occupation | Courtesan |
Emily Warren, also known as Emily Bertie, Emily Coventry[2] and Emily Pott,[3] (died 1781[4] or 1782}[5] was a celebrated courtesan in 18th century London who was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, George Romney, Nathaniel Dance, and the Scottish miniaturist , although the images of Warren by Dance and Shirreff are lost or unidentified. Warren figured prominently in the memoirs of William Hickey.[6][7]
Biography[]
As a child, Warren wandered the streets with her blind beggar father.[8][9] At the age of 12 Warren was "discovered" by Charlotte Hayes and trained to work as a prostitute in Hayes' "nunnery".[2] Hayes taught her deportment and manners and she received "universal admiration".[10] Hickey saw Warren around this time before departing for India in 1776.[2] Reynolds probably first met Warren at Hayes' establishment in the late 1770s.[2] He, and other artists, were known to visit London's brothels in search of models.[11]
Warren left Hayes' establishment to become the mistress of Charles Greville,[12] who commissioned Reynold to paint her as Thaïs.[11][13] In 1778 she left Grenville[12] to be "kept" by Hickey's friend, Captain Robert (Bob) Pott of the East India Company. He set her up in a house in Cork Street,[2] with liveried servants, a yellow carriage and a box at the opera house.[14]
In July 1780 Pott left for India and in the same month Hickey returned from the colony. Hickey and Warren resumed their relationship.[2] To support his view that Warren was 'perfection', Hickey sought the opinion of Reynolds, "whom all the world allowed to be a competent judge" of beauty. Reynolds "declared every limb of hers perfect symmetry, and altogether he had never seen so faultless and finely formed a human figure."[2]
Death[]
Pott returned from India and the couple married.[14] They sailed off to India to start a new life, much to the disapproval of Pott's father.[15] Between Madras and Calcutta Warren died of a fever. Pott was so distraught that he had her coffin placed in a small boat that was towed behind the ship.[16] On arrival in Calcutta her body was interred in the holy burial ground by the Hooghly River. Potts commissioned an architect, Mr Tiretta, to construct a mausoleum for her over the grave at a cost of £3,000 and a column for an additional £1,000.[16]
References[]
- ^ Thaïs. Waddesdon Manor. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g Cruickshank 2010.
- ^ Emily Warren (Biographical details). British Museum. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
- ^ Emily Warren ('Emily Pott') ('Thaïs'). National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
- ^ "George Romney - Portrait of a Woman, Said to Be Emily Bertie Pott (died 1782)". The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
- ^ Teale, Adrian (24 September 2013). "Courting the Courtesans". Erotic Review. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
- ^ Hickey 1782.
- ^ Clee 2011, p. 118.
- ^ Baetjer 2009, p. 128.
- ^ Clee 2011, p. 119.
- ^ a b Williams 2007, p. 51.
- ^ a b "Pott, Emily (Miss)". The Garrick Club Collections. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
- ^ Farington 1924, p. 291.
- ^ a b Teal, Adrian (23 July 2013). "Fifty Shades of the Georgians: Bonkbusters Are Nothing New". HuffPost UK. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
- ^ Hickey 1782, p. 321.
- ^ a b The Gin Lane Gazette 1782, p. 1785.
Bibliography[]
- Baetjer, Katharine (2009). British Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1575-1875. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9781588393487.
- Clee, Nicholas (2011). Eclipse. Black Swan. ISBN 9780552774420.
- Cruickshank, Dan (2010). The Secret History of Georgian London: How the Wages of Sin Shaped the Capital. Random House. ISBN 9781407089515.
- Farington, Joseph (1924). The Farington Diary. HardPress Publishing. ISBN 9781313924924.
- Hickey, William (1782). Memoirs of William Hickey ... Hurst & Blackett, Limited. ISBN 9780710081292.
- Teal, Adrian, ed. (1782). The Gin Lane Gazette: A Profusely Illustrated Compendium of Devilish Scandal and Oddities from the Darkest Recesses of Georgian England. Unbound Publishing. ISBN 9781908717764.
- Williams, Kate (2007). England's Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton. Penguin Random House. ISBN 9780099451839.
External links[]
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- 1780s deaths
- English courtesans
- English artists' models